Ambulance staff action called off

Industrial action by non-emergency ambulance staff in north Staffordshire in a dispute over pay and conditions has been called off.

The dispute has concerned Parkwood Healthcare, which took over running ambulances from Staffordshire ambulance service last year.

The union Unison said it has been given the assurances it needs that everything should be sorted out in the new year.

Unison spokesman Ray Salmon said staff were "relieved".

He said: "We've been trying to resolve this for six months.

"We didn't want to go down the route of industrial action, but they felt they were forced to do it.

"They (staff) quite clearly took the decision... that the sensible thing to do is to return to work and to allow the procedure to run its course."